Doc On The Run Podcast

If you hire a running coach, your coach is going to design a program that is going to actually test you physically and mentally, and push you to your physiologic limits on a regular basis to make you stronger.  Any running coach will give you a series of workouts to execute.  And when you do runs correctly then what happens is that you do the maximum amount of tissue damage that your body can sust...

Osteophytosis is a common finding on foot and ankle x-rays of runners. Bone spurs can form anywhere bone is irritated or otherwise aggravated by jamming, jarring motion.  Most often, osteophytosis is found in the heel, big toe joint and ankle joint.  The real is question is whether or not the osteophytosis a problem that needs to be removed, treated, or even prevented.   Today on the Doc On The Ru...

The biggest mistake any runner can make when seeing a doctor for a running injury is leaving the office without a clear picture or how bad the injury actually may be.  If you don’t have a clear idea of your state of injury, you (or your doctor) are only guessing at how long it will take to get better and return to running.  Part of the lack of clarity is your fault. You have to communicate what re...

The chances are good a lot of your friends secretly admire your ability to run. Unfortunately it seems a lot of people who want to start running, but don't think of themselves as runners find it very difficult to start. Sooner or later one of your friends is going to call you or talk to you and ask for some advice. The real challenge and helping one of your friends begin running is to get them to...

I am sure that you have heard your running buddies use an analogy:  "We just banked another long run.”  “We got another hard workout in the bank.”  All these efforts and investments in our training add up. They create this great store of energy for us. The accumulation of fitness is what prepares us for a marathon an Ironman, or an ultramarathon. Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we're talking a...

Snowboarder’s fracture is a small fracture in your foot that is often misdiagnosed as an ankle sprain.  The injury occurs when you break a portion of the talus bone called the lateral process.  The lateral process of the talus sits at the outside of your foot and ankle.  You can break it when you roll your ankle running on a trail or stepping in a pothole while running on the road.  These fracture...

Many times doctors look at you cross-eyed when you tell them how much you run, how far you run and how much you want to run now. They tell you that you ran “too much” and got injured. The snap recommendation is to stop running.  Doctors want you to heal your running injury. Many times doctors recommend the “safest” path…stop running. Be patient. Wait for healing.  Slower treatment is not always be...

A runner with a stress fracture called me for a telemedicine visit because she was confused.  The doctor told her that she has a stress fracture. But there was no crack on the x-ray.  The doctor said she only had a “periosteal reaction” which suggested she had a metatarsal stress fracture.  She wanted to know if a periosteal reaction meant the foot was really broken, or not. The periosteal reactio...

If you're not actually healing as fast as you want to it is just not a priority.  I talked to a runner the other day who said that he was trying to lose some weight, but he already felt like he was off track, yet it's only a couple weeks into the new year. The fact is that if you can't get to run and exercise, if you can't take the time to prepare meals and eat food that is healthy, it's just not...

The sesamoid bones, these two little bones and they sit under the big toe joint and interestingly when I show X-rays to someone like somebody who has a stress fracture almost always the first thing they say is “what are those two things” and they're pointing to the sesamoid  bones. They are also very small and they don't have a great blood supply. So if you get a problem with the sesamoids and you...

The only thing worse than a running injury is a re-injury.  Most of the runners who call me for a telemedicine visit are demoralized.  You get inured. A doctor tells you to stop running so you can heal. You wait. You heal. You go for a run. And you get injured again.  The cycle of running injury and re-inury is a result of being de-conditioned during the “healing” period.  Going for your first run...

I recently got a great question from a runner... Why are flat feet less stable when you run? Pronation of the foot happens as your arch collapses and the foot elongates. You do that every time you land as you run. You need pronation to absorb impact and decrease forces. Supination is the opposite of pronation. Supination transforms your foot from a flexible, force-absorbing adapter to a rigid leve...

One of my best friends has pain and swelling in his Achilles tendon, right in the watershed region that we know develops Achilles tendinosis and can even rupture. He was understandably worried. He asked me, “Does my Achilles tendon need a PRP injection or Stem Cell injection?” I explained to him that he was asking the wrong question. I said, the right question is, “Do I need an injection at all.”...

----more----When you get any kind of over-training injury, something also incredible happens. You limp. You compensate to remove all of the pressures and forces and friction that goes through that injured structure by “compensating.” But the reason compensation is a problem is that if you think about holding your foot in an uncomfortable and natural position, what you're doing is you are strengthe...

I was recently doing a call with an athlete who has a sprain of the plantar plate ligament.  One of the things that happens with runners is we get an MRI, sometimes just for what we suspect is a plantar plate sprain.  He went and got an MRI. In fact, he got a couple of MRIs. The MRIs were different.  It is reasonable to want reassurance that your foot is healing before you start running. But an MR...

We always want obvious signs when we are healing form something like a metatarsal stress fracture, Achilles tendinitis or peroneal tendinitis or any injury that is keeping his from training as much as we would like. But the results aren’t always obvious. Think about your pace, what it feels like. Think about how those feelings of pace, perceived exertion and heart rate keep you on track. These are...

I was just talking to a runner in one of the sessions where people call in who are taking the One Run Away challenge . In that challenge course, I'm helping you try to figure out what is the step that you're not taking that is holding you back from recovering as quickly as possible. So this is the thing that goes on and every few days I do calls and let people ask questions directly to me over web...

I was just doing a telemedicine visit with a runner who has had an injury to the plantar plate ligament with pain for months.  He's been getting better slowly, but he was trying to figure out how bad it really is. And one of his first questions he asked me was what I see on the x-rays. Can you see anything about the plantar plate where it's torn, where it's injured or anything else? Most of what d...

I just got off a telemedicine call with a runner and she asked me an interesting question, she said, "I just want to know, am I on the right track?” When a runner calls me for a telemedicine visit, after they've seen two or three or four other doctors, I do something differently.  What I do differently is something you can do on your own right now, you don't even have to talk to me. Just look at y...

Dr. Duane Scotti, host of the Healthy Runner podcast was one of the guest experts at the 2-Day Runner’s Rapid Recovery Summit.  This replay is a recording of his session on Hip Pain in Runners is one you won’t want to miss. Here is some of what we’re going to cover:  The top 3 most common causes of hip pain in runners. What exactly is the labrum and how does it get injured in runners? How does joi...

I was just doing a telemedicine visit with a runner who needed a second opinion for a metatarsal stress fracture.  She wanted to know if her healing timeline was accurate and if her estimate on getting back to running was realistic.  The healing timeline for any running injury always depends upon is what you do. Not what your read, and not what your doctor said.  The “realistic” part is based on w...

If you're a runner who's been injured, recovering, and you feel like you're plateaued or you're not really getting anywhere, I have some very good news for you today. That's awesome!  Most of the runners who call me for a telemedicine visit, they've hit a plateau.  Although that can be really frustrating, I can tell you from experience, this is very, very good news. What's going on is really simpl...

Just for a moment I want you to imagine something. You made a decision to become a champion. And after years of continual effort and constant training you have won a World Championship. Today you are packing and getting ready to travel to Switzerland to defend your European title. And then you fall and break both heel bones. In that painful moment everything changes. You aren't getting on a plane...

One of the worst possible injuries you could get as a runner would be a rupture of the Achilles tendon.     Because if you tear the Achilles, whether you have surgery to repair the Achilles tendon or you if don't have surgery and allow the tendon to heal without surgery, even if it heals, I can promise you, you are never going to be the same.   Running hills puts a lot of stress on the Achilles.  ...

Almost all runners who call me just need to take one step to change course. My job on that call is to help you identify and recognize the step you are missing. Every run begins with one step. Right now, you are doing one of two things. Either you are getting stronger. Or you are getting weaker. You are never staying the same. That is the biggest problem with recovering from an injury. Doctors typi...